


For the Love of Science

by AlienBro



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Aliens, Body Swap, Fake Science, M/M, Romance, Secret Relationship, let’s be honest, or to begin with, thats not very secret anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 21:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15495465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlienBro/pseuds/AlienBro
Summary: Accidentally swapping bodies with Spock was NOT how Bones wanted to find out that Jim and Spock were a couple.





	For the Love of Science

**Author's Note:**

> Have another one shot before I try another multi chapter thing. These tend to get a better response anyways, and I just finished this one!

So maybe Bones had had a bit too much to drink. At a fancy party on an alien world no less. But Bones was technically on shore leave and was content to join the rest of his crew in celebrating their newest diplomatic achievements. 

It had happened like this: Spock had been offered a drink, which, in order to avoid offending, he had accepted and taken one drink of. He had set it to the side for a moment, and a man disguised as a waiter had grabbed it. His plan had originally been to swap bodies with the first officer, putting him in a place of power aboard the Enterprise. In order to swap, the targets had to share the drink, and the man planned to retreat into the kitchen and finish the glass.  
However, Bones (who was already a little drunk) had seen a waiter with a seemingly full glass of what he assumed incorrectly to be alcohol pass by him, and had grabbed the drink off the tray and downed it in one gulp, muttering a thank you to the waiter after he downed it, and replaced the glass on the table. 

This brought him here. 

***

Bones woke up seemingly without cause. He was lying on his side, staring out at a dark room - probably aboard the Enterprise. This was weird because Bones was sure that he had fallen asleep at his desk in medbay shortly after returning from the gathering on-planet. Something was tickling the back of his neck, as if someone was breathing in it. Suddenly, Bones realized what woke him. Someone was lying behind him, sound asleep, with one of their arms wrapped around the doctors waist. Bones was being cuddled by someone, and judging by the body pressed against his back, they were most likely male. 

It wasn’t that Bones was uninterested in any gender in particular - practically no one was straight anymore anyways - but the idea that Bones had apparently taken some dude to bed after returning to the Enterprise was bothersome. Bones didn’t do relationships on the ship for a reason - besides fraternization regulations of course. If things went south it would make for at least one awkward checkup a year, if not more. Being the CMO has it’s downfalls. 

The man spooning Bones shifted slightly, mumbling something in his sleep. The hand resting over his torso moved slightly and grabbed at his chest, clutching his shirt. If Bones could see anything, he would’ve turned around to see who it was, but the complete darkness made it nearly impossible to know who he was sleeping with. 

As the stranger shifted again, Bones decided on a plan of action. Almost every living space in the Enterprise was designed the same, so Bones could reasonably find his way to the bathroom no matter who’s quarters he was in, and then at least he could figure out where he was. 

Bones took a deep breath, the moved to sit up. Before he could, however, a confused yet familiar voice whispered to him.

“Ashaya, are you awake?” 

Bones lept out of the bed, nearly tripping over the covers in his haste. He spun around, and even in the complete darkness off the room he could see the unmistakable outline of one James T Kirk. 

Bones blinked, standing stock still in middle of the room, trying to process this information. There had to be some sort of explication for this, right? And what the hell does Ashaya mean anyways? 

Jim sat up, moving as if to get out of bed. 

“What’s wrong babe?” He asked quietly, the worry evident in his tone. 

Bones looked at Jim again, then turned and ran into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Okay, this was fine. Why was Jim calling him babe? What the hell was going on? Bones leaned against the door, trying to breath evenly. Jim was knocking gently on the door, calling out to him. His voice was muffled enough that Bones couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying, but he could hear the worried tone it was said in. Bones felt weird, everything seemed too loud and far away, like he’d gotten taller overnight. If this was a hangover, it was the strangest one he’d ever gotten. 

Bones staggered over to the sink, intent on splashing his face in cold water to help the disorientation he was feeling, but instead, he found himself staring at his reflection with horror mounting in his chest.

“Oh no.” He whispered. “Oh no no no no. This can’t be happening.” 

Bones moved his hand, and the reflection followed as he ran his fingers over the pointed tips of his ears and his silky black hair. His legs gave out, and he fell to the floor, holding his face in his hands and wheezing out breath after breath as Jim pounded in the door, asking what was wrong.

*** 

Spock woke up in Doctor McCoy’s office in medbay, although the last thing he remembered was coming back from the function. He had felt odd, his head swimming and his limbs uncooperative. With Jim’s help he’d managed to get into bed, and has fallen asleep almost instantly. The last memory he had was Jim gently wrapping his arms around Spock’s waist, whispering to him softly about the consequences of drinking to much. 

Only, Spock hadn’t. The only drinks he’d had was one glass of a local fruit beverage, plus a drink of some kind of beverage that had been offered to him. This did not explain how Spock had gone to sleep in Jim’s quarters and woken up in the medbay. 

He stood up, noticing almost instantly that something was very wrong. He felt nauseous, and his head hurt bad enough to make him stumble. He moved slowly towards the door, trying desperately not to aggravate his headache. As he reached the door, it slid open, and Christine Chapel walked through, looking rather irritated. 

“What’ve I told you about sleeping in your office?” She said, pulling a hypo out of her pocket. Before Spock had time to react, she depressed it into his neck. 

“That should take care of the hangover. Now go to your quarters and get some rest in a real bed. M’Benga and I are fine here.”

Spock nodded mutely, not trusting himself to speak. He had never known Nurse Chapel to speak to him in such a manner. Nevertheless, he walked out of medbay as fast as he could without raising suspicion. 

He walked past another nurse, who nodded in his direction.

“Doctor McCoy.” She said, as a greeting. 

Spock came to the realization that he appeared to have somehow swapped consciousness with Doctor McCoy overnight, which was as troubling as it was interesting. A quick glance in a bathroom mirror before he left medbay confirmed his theory. He was unsure how exactly this had happened, but he figured his first order of business was to get to the Captain’s quarters before either Jim or McCoy woke, this preventing any confusion. 

Spock arrived at Jim’s quarters, opening the door without asking for entrance. He knew the access codes for the door, as he’d been sharing it with him for nearly six months now. As he entered, he noticed the bed was empty, the covered thrown back and one pillow sitting on the floor. Jim was standing by the closed bathroom door, chewing on his lower lip the way he always did when he was especially nervous. 

As soon as Jim saw him, he was walking across the room towards him. 

“Bones! I was just about to com you. I think somethings wrong with Spock, he’s acting really weird and he just locked himself in the bathroom.” Jim said in a rush, worry evident on his face. Spock nodded, moving past Jim towards the bathroom door. He knocked on it softly, calling out knowing that his body’s Vulcan hearing would be able to understand him.

“Doctor McCoy, it is Spock. I would like to speak to you, if you could unlock the bathroom door.” He called out, unused to the southern accent he spoke in. 

Jim made a sound of confusion beside him, but before he could speak, the door opened to reveal a very disheveled Vulcan. 

“What the hell happened last night.” Bones snarled.

“I believe our respective consciousnesses have swapped places.” Spock said, one eyebrow raising.

“Yeah I noticed that. It’s not every day you wake up being spooned by your best friend.” Bones grumbled to himself, running one hand through his hair, disheveling the normally ordered strands. “Also not every day that you turn up wearing my face.” 

“I am not ‘wearing your face’ as you put it. The most likely scenario is that we have somehow swapped consciouses through the foraging of a light telepathic link.” Spock said, a little indignantly. He was beginning to find it more difficult to control his emotions while inhabiting McCoy’s body. 

“What’s going on?” Jim asked quietly. 

Both Spock and Bones turned to him, having forgotten about their captain for a brief moment. 

“He’s me. And I’m him. Also how long have you two been sleeping together? And why didn’t you tell me?” Bones explained, growing petulant towards the end of the sentence. 

Jim looked between the two of them, gesturing to each in turn. “So you’re Bones in Spock’s body, and you’re Spock in Bones’ body. And we’re not sleeping together.” 

Bones snorted, which sounded rather odd coming from Spock’s body. “Like hell you aren’t. You were spooning me.” 

Spock interrupted before it could develop into an argument. “Jim and I have been in a committed, monogamous relationship for six point four months.” 

“That’s what I meant!” Jim addd, gesturing wildly. “We’re not sleeping together, we’re dating. Also, how did this happen and how do we fix it? This is going to get really awkward really soon if we can’t.” 

Bones shrugged. “No idea. Last thing I remember was heading home from the party.” 

Spock nodded, already pondering several possible explanations. “My last conscious memory in my own body was falling asleep here, in our quarters.” 

Jim bit his lip, glancing between the two of them. “Something must’ve happened at the party. There might’ve been something wrong with the drinks.” 

Bones huffed, the movement looking odd in Spock’s body. “I scanned the hell out of everything. Nothing should be harmful to humans or Vulcans, and it most certainly shouldn’t make us swap bodies.” 

“It is more likely that there has been a light telepathic bond formed, allowing our respective consciousnesses to swap, so to speak. I hypothesize that such a bond was only able to form due to my own telepathic abilities.” Spock said, almost unconsciously stepping closer to Jim. “There is a chance I can reactivate the link to replace our minds on their proper bodies.” 

Bones’ head snapped up, already shaking aggressively. “I don’t want you messing around in my mind unless you know for sure that you can get me back into my body.” 

Spock looked almost offended, with the natural emotionalism that came with Bones’ body only accentuating it. “I would simply need to meld us and search out a telepathic link. If one is present, I can use it to reinstate our proper minds. If not, we shall proceed from there.” 

Bones shook his head again. “How do we know that won’t mess us up even more. I don’t want us doing anything until we are at least fifty percent sure it’ll work.” 

Jim nodded, looking off into space. “Agreed. Which means we have two options: wait until morning and beam back down to the planet, or ask Uhura.” 

Bones raised an eyebrow as the latter. “I know she’s a genius, but I don’t see how would Uhura be able to help us.” He said, crossing his arms, a movement that looked extremely odd in Spock’s body. 

“She has a few of the ancient texts from the planet. She wanted to study the linguistic evolution and since the natives are very academic, they agreed to send her some. Maybe there’s something about what happened to you two in there.” Jim explained. 

Bones shrugged and Spock nodded thoughtfully. “I guess it’s worth a shot. The sooner I’m back in my own body the better. This could get really uncomfortable really fast if we’re stuck here for too long.” 

“A logical action, Jim.” Spock added, feeling a small amount o pride in his boyfriend. 

Jim beamed, glancing over at Spock. “Thanks babe.” 

Bones gagged, ushering Jim towards the door. “Please stop flirting and go wake up Uhura. I want my face back.” 

***

Jim walked out the door, stepping into the hallway, pausing momentarily to collect his thoughts. He had made late night visits to his crew before, but usually they were explainable. This situation was a mess, and very odd to explain. Thankfully, Jim was adaptable. 

Unfortunately, Jim was not immune to anxiety. His brain was filled with knowing worries that Nyota would not be able to find anything, that when they beamed down to the planet no one would be able to help them, that Spock would be trapped in Bones’ body and vice versa, and that Jim’s relationship with Spock and his friendship with Bones would eventually deteriorate because of the resulting situation. 

“Okay.” Jim found himself muttering to himself as he walked down the hall. “All we can do now is fix this the best we can.” 

Nyota’s room was down the hall a ways, but Jim did not pass any crew members on his way. He supposed that no one on the night shift would be wandering down the commanding officers’ hall, but it was odd to see somewhere on the Enterprise completely void of life for once. 

As Jim reached Nyota’s door, he hesitated. How was he going to explain this? It was probably for the best of him just told the truth. It wasn’t like Nyota wouldn’t believe him; they’d both seen some pretty weird stuff during their mission. Logically, Nyota wouldn’t be too weirded out by this situation. It had been so strange for Jim because of his relationship with Spock. Nyota had never been with either of them, at least to his knowledge, and probably would be able to adjust better. 

Jim buzzed the intercom. He paused for a second, then buzzed again. He was reaching for a third attempt when the doors swished open and Nyota appeared, looking disheveled and vaguely annoyed. 

“Captain.” She greeted. 

“Lieutenant. I have a bit of a situation that can’t be overheard.” Jim said, stepping past her into her quarters.

Nyota moved away, allowing the door to close. She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly, clearly disgruntled from being woken up.

Jim put his hands behind his back, a habit he’d picked up from Spock, and began talking. “There’s been a small incident at the function on planet. For the dignity of those involved I won’t say more. However, I need your help. I know you’ve been reading some of the texts supplied to us by the native race, and I was wondering if you had come across any mentions of people having their bodies swapped.” 

To her credit, Nyota only stared at Jim for a few seconds before answering. “Yes, actually, there is. It’s not super recent but there are mentions of light telepathic bonds that are used to swap the consciousness with another. They’re usually formed by sharing a special drink - it didn’t really say what - that allowed the bond to form even if the two are not mentally compatible.” 

Jim sighed in relief. He was not fond of the idea of having his boyfriend trapped in his best friends body for the rest of their lives. “How do you fix it?” 

“If one of the... creatures... is telepathic, they should be able to see the other back into their own body. If they’re not, you’ll have to find someone else to help them do so.” Nyota said, in a tone that suggested she had guessed at least one of the people who’d been affected. 

“Thank you, Uhura. I’ll leave you to get some rest now.” Jim said, exiting quickly. As the door slid shut behind him, Jim nearly ran into a young ensign sped walking down the hall. They didn’t look at Jim as they passed, but he saw them glance at the door he just exited. 

“Great” Jim whispered to himself as he headed back to his quarters “now the whole ship will know by tomorrow that so and so saw the captain leaving Uhura’s quarters at 0300. That’ll certainly fuel some rumours.” 

Jim walked up to his door, keying in his code with practiced ease. He allowed himself a brief sense of relief that everything was seemingly going to work out all right. 

***

Jim’s explanation of the process had been brief, but thorough. It was one of the traits Spock admired in his captain. Now that Spock’s hypotheses has been proven correct, Bones reluctantly agreed to meld for the sake of getting his body back. 

Spock stepped forward, ushering Bones towards Jim’s bed. “It is best if we sit down.” He said, crossing his legs in an attempt to get comfortable. Jim awkwardly meandered over to the desk, turning the chair around and sitting down. Bones sat down across from Spock, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Spock had to admit it was disconcerting to see his own face contorted in such a way. 

“I will need you to help initiate the meld, as this body does not have the abilities to do so. If you will follow my direction.” Spock said, guiding Bones’ hand to his psi points, initiating a meld with some difficulty. 

Leonard McCoy’s mind was so unlike Jim’s. Although it was illogical to compare the two, the only human he had melded with recently had been Jim, and the meld was such a fascinating experience that it had become a very prominent memory. 

Bones’ mind was chaotic, similar to most humans. It was bright and vibrant, flickering with energy. If Spock could compare Jim’s kind to sunlight, Bones’ was like a lightning storm. Fantastic in its own way, but so very different. 

“Great. I can hear your thoughts. Can you hurry up?” Bones’ voice filtered through the mindscape, reminding Spock of the task at hand. 

“It is likely that, now that we are melded, our minds will be drawn back to our proper bodies.” Spock responded. 

They both waited for a moment, silent. Spock was beginning to feel an odd sensation, as if he was being pulled towards something. It was gentle at first, but seemed to get more intense by the second. 

“What the hell is happening?” Bones said, his voice sounding far away and too close all at once. 

Spock did not know. 

Suddenly, without notice, something happened, a feeling like an elastic that was stretched too far finally snapping from the strain. Spock felt like he was being thrown, and he could feel the meld breaking. 

Opening his eyes, Spock saw Leonard McCoy staring back at him. Despite having very good control of his emotions, Spock found himself almost overwhelmed by relief. Bones appeared to be in the same state, sighing audibly and slumping down. There was a moment of silence before before Jim spoke up, standing up from his chair.

“Did it work?” He asked, hope threading his words. 

“Yes.” Spock answered, as Bones nodded emphatically. 

Jim too slumped in relief, moving to sit down on the bed next to Spock. As soon as he did so, Bones spoke up.

“This bed is getting uncomfortably crowded, and I don’t want to stick around to see you two celebrate having Spock’s body back, so I’m going to go to bed. And tomorrow morning, you’re both gonna explain just how this happened and why I wasn’t informed.” Bones said, unceremoniously standing up and marching out the door. 

“‘Night Bones!” Jim called after him, the door sliding shut with a quiet whoosh. 

Sighing softly, Jim shuffled forward, wrapping his arms around Spock and resting his chin on his shoulder. Spock almost unconsciously leaned back, comforted by Jim’s presence. 

“This certainly was a weird night.” Jim whispered, his breath tickling Spock’s cheek. 

“Indeed.” Spock replied, his hand moving to rest on Jim’s leg. “I do believe it would be prudent to get some rest.” 

Jim sighed again, moving to lay down and pulling Spock with him. The two of them snuggled beneath the blankets, Jim returning to wrapping himself around Spock as much as he could. 

“Promise you’re not going to wake up in someone else’s body again?” Jim whispered, only half joking.

Spock sighed gently. “Of course, ashayam. Now sleep, it is late.” 

Jim said nothing, already fast asleep. Spock allowed himself a small smile as he pulled the blankets around himself, allowing the gentle heartbeat of his t’hy’la to lull him to sleep. 

The End

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for reading! There will be another multi chapter thing up soon, but it won’t be super long, only six chapters, maybe seven if I make an epilogue. I just need to finish up the first chapter. Check me out on tumblr under @not-chrispratt where I post mainly about Star Trek. You can also find updates for my fanfics there, including my works in progress. Thanks again for reading. Leave a comment and brighten my day!


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